


You Go Down Smooth

by MintChocolateLeaves



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Toichi Lived, DCMK Secret Santa 2019, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21987286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintChocolateLeaves/pseuds/MintChocolateLeaves
Summary: Kuroba Kaito and Hakuba Saguru have nothing in common. Until Kaitou KID, that is. Then, they have an agreement and a partnership that will only last until they catch the thief.
Relationships: Hakuba Saguru/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	You Go Down Smooth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mezzatto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mezzatto/gifts).



> Merry (belated) Christmas! I've had to split this fic into chapters, because I know that I won't be able to finish it in one fell sweep before it would be considered late! But Mezz, I hope that you will enjoy this, and that it is fluffy enough thus far!
> 
> I hope everyone has had happy holidays, and now, I shall sleep. 
> 
> (Also, tf are titles? And why are they so difficult?)

Kuroba had taught him how to fall.

That had been the first lesson, and Saguru thinks he’d taught it entirely too well because he’s been falling ever since. Still, the first lesson as part of their agreement had been learning to fall, since the second had included climbing to great heights and not being terrified every time the fall extended way past that of a three-story building.

Apparently, to catch a thief, one had to become a thief. Which seemed kind of contradictory, _really_ , considering Saguru was meant to be a detective.

Still, there’d been no refusing him. They’d made a deal, after all, and it wasn’t as if Saguru _hadn’t_ been at his wits end for months. There was a certain level of desperation that came with being unable to solve a case, to unmasking a phantom that lead to him seeking out someone else equally as desperate.

Kuroba Kaito.

His classmate, someone he didn’t much care for, but who was just as frustratingly desperate over the entire situation. Since the media had claimed the thief held the top spot over all other magicians, Kuroba had been _outraged._ His father, he stated, was the one more deserving of being number one.

He’d set out to prove it. Solving each trick hours or days after they’d been enacted. It hadn’t been quick enough for him, and certainly hadn’t been quick enough to catch the thief. So far, any attempt to make KID admit he was a novice compared to his father had fallen nil.

“That’s the only reason I’m partnering up with an asshole like you,” Kuroba had said, “because I’m desperate and I _need_ to catch this guy.”

“The sentiment is shared,” Saguru had responded, “let me assure you of that much.”

Except, it hadn’t stayed that way for very long.

Saguru blames it on all the lessons.

* * *

Kuroba’s plan was as such: If they learn to become thieves, then they’ll be able to begin to form plans similar to that of KID. They could see which entry routes he’d make, which ideas he’d formulate. This didn’t, much to Saguru’s own relief, include the committing of any crimes.

Their felony count would remain at zero.

Well, Saguru’s would. He didn’t know about Kuroba’s. Even if legally he was at zero, it was all too impossible to tell when it came to him. Saguru would be shocked if he hadn’t, although, disappointed if he had.

Kuroba had always been a troublemaker who pushed boundaries. It was just difficult to tell just how many he was willing to push.

To learn to become thieves, Kuroba had argued, they needed _lessons_. Saguru had to learn all he could about _KID’s_ approach to thievery, which Kuroba had been watching for _years_.

“If you know so much on his approach to thievery,” Saguru asks, again, at some point around their fifth lesson: lock picking. “Then why haven’t you caught him yet?”

“I don’t have a detective’s mind,” Kuroba says, flippant. He pushes another lock towards him, a padlock with six pins, to see how quickly he can break it. “I think I’d have nightmares each night if I did.”

“What’s your issue with detectives anyway?” Saguru asks.

“I don’t have any issues,” Kuroba says. “It’s just fifty percent of the one’s I’ve met are assholes.”

For a moment, Saguru pauses. He squints. “You only know two.”

“Yep,” Kuroba clicks his tongue, offers a grin and a thumbs up. “You and Aoko’s dad. And guess what, you’re the fifty percent labelled _asshole_.”

With a raised eyebrow, Saguru pushes the pick into the lock, pushes up the six pins and springs open the padlock, placing it down on the table. He doesn’t understand Kuroba.

“You might want to come up with a new insult,” Saguru says, voice dry. “At this point, being called an asshole is just background noise, Kuroba.”

Kuroba grins. He pushes forward another padlock. Saguru wonders where he gets them all from. “Is that a request?”

“I’m sure you’ll go on to consider it as one.”

“What I consider it, is a _challenge_.” Kuroba waits until Saguru picks up the next lock. “Bastard. _Hakubastard._ ”

The next padlock clicks open quicker than before, as Saguru pushes up the pins, frustrated. Why does he put up with this?

“Yes,” Saguru says, “because I’ve never heard that one before.”

* * *

Saguru falls.

He means to. Or well, he’d known he was going to – Kuroba pushes him from the ledge, but he’s pretty vocal in the lead up to it.

“You’re always so smug in class about learning quickly,” Kuroba says, and Saguru just _knows_ the other boy is pissed because he’d corrected his English homework this afternoon. “Maybe you can apply that to kinetic learning.”

The ledge isn’t too high up, and there are mats on the floor of the gym they’ve set up, so Saguru isn’t too concerned with the fall. He lets himself fall, leaning into a forward roll and uses the momentum to carry himself back up to her feet.

He turns, glances up at Kuroba, trying to resist a frown.

“Maybe next time,” Saguru says, “a bigger warning is in favour. I could’ve broken something.”

“You did it, didn’t you?” Kuroba says. “Stop whining like a baby.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

Kuroba steps off the ledge himself, falling into a roll of his own. He looks more graceful when he moves, years of gymnastics practise showing in the arc of his roll, the way he points his toes. When he moves like this, focused on catching himself without injury, it’s almost possible to think he’s handsome.

He pushes up, moving towards Saguru, scowling. Whatever fluttering feeling in his chest he’d been feeling, is easily replaced with his exasperation.

“What?” Kuroba says. “You think that KID’s going to _warn_ you whenever we chase after you. _Oi, Hakuba, I’m going to jump now._ Get real.”

“There’s a difference,” Saguru says, “I’d be more prepared for it then.”

“You should always be prepared just in case,” Kuroba says. “Come on. We’re doing this again.”

* * *

“Disguise work hardly seems necessary, Kuroba.” Saguru says, from where he’s sat on his bed. Apparently, the had to do this here – since Kuroba didn’t want his parents to think anything of Saguru’s existence, especially where there was a makeup kit involved.

Oh well, it seemed Baaya would have to deal with wondering instead. Saguru was not looking forward to explaining later.

“Yes,” Kuroba says, “it is.”

So far, Saguru simply feels like a fool. A fool that’s being forced to learn the proper way of putting on eyeliner. Which, sure, he can understand the reason a person would wear such a thing, but he can’t quite… see the point.

“You need to learn the elements of a disguise,” Kuroba says, in a way that definitely only makes Saguru think he’s being fucked with. There’s his regular curved grin, as he raises a single eyebrow, the one he usually offers whenever playing games. “In order to see through them.”

Saguru looks in the mirror at his hideous attempt to _‘accentuate’_ his eyes and lowers the pencil. He turns, one eye perfect – courtesy of Kuroba – the other… _messy_.

“I don’t see how eyeliner is going to help.”

Kuroba sighs. Holds up makeup wipes. Saguru takes one, wipes away black pencil marks. It doesn’t come off so easily, so he rubs at his eyes with it instead. There, that’s better.

“You saw it right,” Kuroba says, “even though you’re horrible at putting it on. How the eyeliner brightened your eyes?”

Saguru shrugs. He supposes so.

“Well imagine you’re trying to get the right eye colour of someone you’ve seen before – you use contacts and then apply eye makeup until it’s the right shade.”

Certain that his disillusionment is plain on his face, Saguru sighs. He says, “Alright then?”

“Then–” Kuroba rolls his eyes. “You’re meant to be the detective, why aren’t you deducing my point right now, _jeez.”_

“So? They’re wearing makeup,” Saguru says. “And they’re achieving the same eye colour, they’re blending _in_.”

“Yes,” Kuroba raises lip gloss. Saguru’s really going to have to ask at some point why he owns all of this. “But they’re wearing makeup at that point. So, their eyes shouldn’t be the same exact shade as if they weren’t wearing any. It’s all in the details.”

“Because the colour would be accentuated more…”

Kuroba points his finger at him, nodding his head. He says, “ _exactly._ It’s tiny details like that would be able to give KID away when he’s in disguise.”

Saguru pauses, sighs.

“Why do _I_ have to wear the makeup though?” He says, shaking his head. That element to this concept doesn’t make sense. If he wanted to show the effects, surely makeup on himself would be the better idea.

“Well,” Kuroba says, “you were right when you said it earlier, making you try it on yourself _was_ partially just to fuck with you. Maybe make you look like a person for once, rather than whatever the _fuck_ you’re supposed to be.”

Saguru sighs. He _knew it_.

* * *

“We’re going to the mall tomorrow,” Kuroba says, as he’s packing up the makeup case. Everything is sorted back into place. The only evidence that there was ever makeup in the first place, are the stains on the makeup wipes Saguru’s thrown in the bin beneath his desk.

“Right,” Saguru says, “why’s that?”

“For a test,” Kuroba says. “Testing you of course, since I already know how to see through all this stuff.”

Right. Of course, he can. That makes so much _sense_ , considering he’s caught KID in disguise so many tim–

Oh wait.

_He hasn’t_.

Saguru’s only the slightest bit exasperated. He doesn’t know if it shows.

…It probably does.

“You’re going to test me at the mall, huh?” He sighs. This is the person he’s been spending most of his days after classes consorting with? What has his life _begun?_ “How exactly…?”

“Well, I’ll be in a set area.” Kuroba says, “and you’re going to have to come find me.”

Right, a difficult task. As if Kuroba was ever going to become someone who wasn’t constantly demanding attention.

“You’re not difficult to find,” Saguru says. He finds him each day when he’s heading to class amongst the other students, finds him in the crowd between classes, during the lunch period. At heists, he can easily find him standing beside Nakamori-san, can find him in most rooms.

It’s easy to find someone like him, it’s like he leaves imprints on Saguru’s muscle memory, because he always knows just how much to turn to make sure he can pick him out.

“I will be,” Kuroba says. His voice is firm, serious in a way that seems almost… too serious to be anything but a joke. “I’ll be in disguise.”

Right. Because Saguru _doesn’t_ know all about his mannerisms and the tone of his voice.

“I’m sure you will be,” Saguru says. “I’m sure we’ll see how difficult it is tomorrow.”

* * *

All Saguru gets by way of information the following day, as he steps into the mall, is that Kuroba will remain on the ground floor. He’ll move between stores – so as not to reveal himself by being _stagnant,_ but other than that, he’ll stay in the same area.

Saguru’s only rule that he’s been given, is to avoid phone calls. Even _if_ Kuroba’s placing his phone on silent, the chance of him reacting to the phone call would only give away the game, and it’s not like KID would have a phone that they could call to catch him out _anyway_.

So he’s stood in the middle of Tokyo’s busiest mall complex, looking at trying to find a single disguised Kuroba Kaito in a haystack of hundreds of other people… feeling generally like he’s been set up to fail.

_Great._

“I’m not…” He’s mumbling to himself, shaking his head. “I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be doing here.”

Kuroba would say training, but Saguru himself would say suffering. That’s all Kuroba really wants him to be doing, it seems. Saguru must be a masochist. Ah, yes, he’s learning about himself more and more each day.

Alright.

Consider the task fully and think things over. He needs to find Kuroba Kaito. He needs to use what he knows to find him.

Appearances of children and young teenagers are out. In fact, anyone shorter than 174 centimetres? Not the person he’s looking for. It’s impossible to become shorter unless Kuroba takes the appearance of the elderly, walking hunched over.

Which, from Saguru’s knowledge of him, he won’t. Not for an exercise like this.

Who will he become then…?

Someone young. Late teens to early thirties. Someone shopping alone, most likely relaxed, enjoying browsing more than buying. Kuroba will want to be able to move in and out of stores easily, without bringing attention to himself, and that’s currently the highest demographic moving through the mall.

Saguru heads further into the mall, glancing at each of the stores, considering which one Kuroba would step into. His fingers curl in his pockets, around the timepiece in his right pocket and his wallet in the left.

A toy shop seems like the right place, but Kuroba doesn’t like being _predictable_. So he factors it out for now. Clothes stores seem like they’d work, but then… Wait.

No store.

Saguru pauses for a moment, making his way to one of the benches in the centre of the mall, settling against cold metal.

Waiting.

He can people watch from here, scan each individual and see what’s going on. If someone’s offering a _test_ , then there’s usually and exam invigilator, someone keeping watch to make sure there’s no cheating. Someone who’s right in the middle of things, making sure the test is going _well_.

Kuroba isn’t in a store, he’s on one of the benches outside, watching over. Probably in the middle, if only to have the furthest view of Saguru as he heads past on his searches.

And that’s where Saguru finds him.

Or _her_ actually. A woman of 174 cm, wearing clothes that Saguru would recognise more easily on Nakamori Aoko. Makeup accentuating the blue of her eyes so they appear almost lilac.

Saguru settles in the seat beside her. Beside Kuroba and takes a moment to think. To be doubly sure.

It only takes a single moment of looking at her hands. Although the nails are painted, there’s been no attempt to hide the callouses, the slight crosshatching of scars across the back of Kuroba’s hands from failed magic tricks over the years.

“You weren’t too difficult to find,” Saguru says, glancing at his suspected Kuroba. “Were you even trying?”

There’s no response. Of course, KID wouldn’t admit it either, so Saguru would have to use proof. Would have to press forward and prove it. Would have to be one hundred percent certain.

“Not going to respond?” Saguru asks. “Fine. I’ll offer you proof then.”

His suspect doesn’t even turn to look at him, but the slight tilt of her chin seems to indicate she’s listening – that Kuroba within the disguise, is listening to his deduction.

“Your hands.” Saguru says. “The scars are too distinguishable. And if you were to factor out the makeup, your eyes would be the same colour they usually are – I don’t see why you didn’t use contacts.”

Still no response, but Saguru isn’t swayed. He leans down, pulls out his phone– A hand wraps around his wrist.

“Why,” Kuroba says. His voice is tailored to the disguise. “phoning me would be violating the rules.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Saguru says, “but the impression that I would, was all I needed for you to crack. You’re not as good as you think you are.”

“Consider it a lack of experience.” Kuroba sighs.

“Of course,” Saguru says. “Perhaps _you_ need training sessions too.”

“I was hardly trying,” Kuroba says, “I was trying to keep things simple. But see, my training sessions for you must be working, hmm? You were able to find me, pretty quickly at that. I think I deserve a medal for my wonderous tutoring.”

Right.

“So humble,” Saguru says.

Although, he’s not exactly sure it’s all this training. He doubts he’d be able to find anyone else so easily – it’s just. He doesn’t think it’s impossible to lose Kuroba Kaito in a crowd.

If anything, he's beginning to think he’d be able to find him anywhere.


End file.
